Investing in Nurses: New EMR is Just the Beginning

Judy Krupala, CNO at Cuero Regional Hospital, shares nurses' feedback and key steps in their recent transition to MEDITECH Expanse in an interview on The CereCore Podcast. Cuero Regional Hospital and CereCore partnered to enhance technical infrastructure, implement MEDITECH Expanse, and improve clinical data access for acute and ambulatory care providers through a unified EHR platform. Judy Krupala discusses the transition to MEDITECH Expanse and how nurses quickly appreciated the new EMR's efficiency and its impact on patient care.

Listen to this conversation on The CereCore Podcast | Episode: CNO Day in the Life: Leading through Change

A Chief Nursing Officer’s perspective on technology investments 

Editor’s note: Find conversation highlights below. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Sobol: Tell us about your experience moving to MEDITECH Expanse.  

Krupala: I was in the first MEDITECH conversion in the '90s. Now I had the privilege of being in this conversion to Expanse. You've got to have staff who are doing the documentation prior. They know what they need to chart, and how to chart it. They have to be there for the build.   

We are truly in our optimization phase. If you talk to staff, they've learned the basic system, but now they want more. They're asking, "Well, could we do this? Could we build this? Can we do that?" It is a great challenge, almost more than the build, because they're familiar with the system. Now they want the system to work for them.  

Now the staff understand and know what they want, they can tell the CereCore staff  
to ‘Help me build this. Add this. Do these things.’ | Judy Krupala, CNO Cuero Regional Hospital 

Sobol: Any tips when navigating technology changes to help nurses prepare for working differently?  

Krupala: Technology and innovation are intertwined in nursing. Number one, leave the patient in the center and keep clinical perspective in the forefront. The other thing is to have an IT specialist with you at the table.   

I can share examples. We wanted our glucometers to merge into the EMR and we discussed timing. I said, "No, we need it, we want it." So, we put it in at the beginning rather than after go live.   

Something that didn't work well prior to Expanse were great vital sign monitors we bought. They were supposed to integrate into the system and do everything. Well, we did not have the IT backup and technology needed, and it was a failure.   

Bring your IT people with you for every piece of equipment you buy. They understand the interconnectivity that nurses don't. We just want to plug it up and go.  

Curious about what else CNO Judy Krupala had to say?  

Stream the full conversation for her perspective on these topics: 

Technology and innovation in nursing: Do you know what nurses really want out of today’s healthcare technology? What's most important to them? How will younger nurses change tech adoption? 

Nursing students are very, very savvy with computers and documentation now.  
When they're doing all their clinicals, they're learning multiple EMRs. | Judy Krupala, CNO Cuero Regional Hospital 

Training and equipping nurses in rural health: Hear how Cuero Regional Hospital navigates workforce needs and solutions for rural healthcare settings.  

I have some nurses right now in the rural nurse certification program. We have leadership classes and our hospital works with our employees. We commit to them because they've committed to us and we are going to grow them. | Judy Krupala, CNO Cuero Regional Hospital  

Community and collaboration with TORCH: Find inspiration in the ways Cuero leadership partners and collaborates with other health systems and organizations like the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH). 

Some of the major topics for rural nurses, but it's not just rural at this time, it's patient safety and workplace safety. We've got to address those. We got to look at the workforce shortage. | Judy Krupala, CNO Cuero Regional Hospital 

Resources for EHR Improvement 

Where is the untapped potential in your EHR?  

Whatever stage of EHR maturity or version of MEDITECH your organization might be using, efficiency gains and EHR optimizations could ease pain points for clinical staff and improve patient care.  

Outline a roadmap for your EHR. Jump start your plan with an EHR current assessment.

Here are some top areas to investigate:

Clinical staff satisfier  

Online How-to Guide for MEDITECH Expanse 2.1 to 2.2. Get advice to help streamline workflows and offer new clinical routines for acute and ambulatory clinicians.   

• Are you considering a proactive implementation of MEDITECH Web prior to go-live?  
  

• Have you rounded with your providers and clinicians to document pain points with workflows, data flow, and tool adoption?     

Patient experience benefits  

• Is it time to expand access to care and support virtual visits with more telehealth capabilities? 

• Are you using Advanced Scheduling features for more efficient appointment management which could reduce missed appointments?  

Learn How to Transform Patient Scheduling: 7 MEDITECH 2.2 Features

Financial impact  

• Have you scheduled your upgrade with MEDITECH? It’s your first step to understanding your timeline and cost estimations.   
  

• Have you planned for integrated financial testing prior to go-live?  
  

• Is there a revenue gap between ambulatory and acute? How confident are you in provider charge capture? 
  

Find steps to help ensure care provided turns into billable revenue. Read Charge Capture and Reconciliation for Strong Revenue Cycle Management